Tuesday, June 30, 2009

DeGeneres is in the third edition of her variety show, which features live music, dancers and unique specialty acts.

David Blaine and Ellen DeGeneres went out on the streets of Chicago and did some great street magic. Here is a list of similar effects that David and Ellen did on the show.

Card Fictions: Finger Flicker where only one finger is used for one of the coolest demonstrations of precision and skill with a deck of cards. Easy to perform with any deck, anywhere, anytime.

Two Card Monte: An effect David Blaine performed a number of times on his Street Magic Special - Eddie Fetcher’s "Be Honest - Was Is It?" (also referred to as the "Two Card Monte"). David Williamson offers a terrific version of this great in the hands card trick with his variation entitled "The Memory Test" don’t miss it.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Discovery Channel's series Time Warp, in which MIT scientist and teacher Jeff Lieberman -- along with digital-imaging expert Matt Kearney -- uses new technologies to bring truly never-before-seen wonders into a form that your body can actually process. Using the latest in high-speed photography, the Time Warp turns them into a thing of both beauty and learning.

Dan and Dave Buck are featured on "The Fine Art of Cheating" at playing cards episode. Dan and Dave Buck demonstrate several techniques card cheaters might use to hustle someone in a game of poker or blackjack. Checkout some of Steve Forte's gambling protection books here.

The MacMillan Switch was created and first published by Dan MacMillan. It is expertly taught by Jason England on the new "Foudations DVD".

The Botton Deal method used is from "The Expert at The Card Table" by SW Erdnase. It is also expertly taught by Jason England on "Foundations DVD"as well.

The user-friendly app -- “Street Magic: See A Card” -- works on supported iPhones, including the new 3G S, and iPod touch devices, and allows users to become a magician, like Blaine, in boggling the minds of those who see the effect performed. The app became available for downloads at Apple’s iTunes app store for $1.99 on Friday, June 26, 2009.

“This is my favorite piece of magic; it was pivotal in gaining my first TV special. Now, for the first time, I am making it available to magic fans as a download from the Apple app store,” said Blaine, who continually strives to amaze audiences with magic and public feats of endurance that include levitation and remaining under water longer than any other human being.

“Turning the iPhone into a virtual deck of cards is no small feat,” he added. “This is one of the hardest card effects to get right, and Partners 1993 has really demonstrated its technical skills. This application makes every owner of a supported iPhone and iPod touch a magician.”

David Blaine’s software firm, Mindboggling LLC, chose Partners 1993 to develop Street Magic for the iPhone and iPod touch because of its track record of innovatively solving complex mobile-application problems.

“Partners 1993 is pleased to have collaborated with David Blaine in adapting the physical effect to one that works in the iPhone and iPod touch formats,” said Lew Roth, Partners 1993 vice president of business development. “We’re proud that we could apply our out-of-the-box thinking and implementation skills to Street Magic and deliver an app that allows any performer to duplicate what David Blaine does best – leave audiences of all ages amazed by what they have just seen.”

Roth said building Street Magic to replicate Blaine’s legerdemain presented many challenges, including:Developing the full size, composite animated imagery and sequencing needed for the iPhone to be perceived as a three-dimensional full deck of cards.Getting the iPhone 3-D deck to behave the same as the physical deck of cards when David Blaine performs the effect.Getting the card seen by the viewer to be the same card that is revealed on the iPhone screen.

“Street Magic was one of the most fun yet challenging iPhone projects we’ve undertaken at Partners 1993. We were inspired by David Blaine’s initial vision and driven by the extraordinary responses that this card trick evokes,” said Roth.

Swedish Magician Charlie Caper is the winner of Sweden's Got Talent 2009 and the $65,000 dollar first prize. He performed Richard Sanders "Interlace" in the video below.

Here is his very funny bio:

"I was born in Sweden at the age of 0 and it wasn't long until my stage debut. 1 years old I was seen on cult Swedish TV show Drömplanket. On my eighth birthday my wellmeaning parents gave me a unicycle with complete disregard for the influence it would have on my young brain

Tricked into magic at the age of 9 I was 14 at my first paid gig as a magician. I was also juggling and fire eating (cleverly given up after a scary burn).

In the last six years I have toured Europe, Asia, Central America, Oceania and North America with a magic show that swings.

The summer of 2007 I was invited to perform at the Street Performers World Championship in Dublin. I was invited back for 2008 and am proud to be one of only three performers ever to be booked twice.

In the summer of 2006 I was asked to perform and organize street magic at the World Championship Of Magic and it ended up being the largest gathering of street magicians in modern times."

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Spencer Peterson, 16, has been doing magic for the last five years, but only became seriously interested in sleight of hand in the last two. Last week, Spencer took 1st Place in the Junior Close-up Competition at the The Canadian Association of Magicians’ Camaraderie 2009 Convention in Montréal, Canada.

This New York City teenager is constantly trying to master difficult and esoteric sleights with a deck of cards. Aside from his interest in sleight of hand and puppies, Spencer has a passion for photography. He has been going to Tannen's Magic Camp for four years and has been working at Tannen's Magic Shop in New York City for the last year. He is fluent in French.

On a daily basis, Spencer says: “I strive to achieve total awesomeness... and hopes to do so by doing card magic and by taking pictures.”

"The David Stone coin DVD's contain some of my favorite sleight of hand coin routines, I use his coin in cap routine often. John Bannon's Dear Mister Fantasy is by far one of my favorite books on card magic alonng with Totally Out of Control by Chris Kenner, which has routines using cards, coing, rope and even business cards. I also love Surfaced by Chad Nelson, a DVD teaching the Clipshift; the Clipshift is a move with cards which can accomplish a ridiculously visual color change, a beautiful vanish of a card and an truly invisible control of a card from a dribble." - Spencer": Check them out here!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

By 1974, magic had lost its mass appeal and there was no such thing as a celebrity magician until a skinny, bucktoothed kid from Winnipeg became an overnight star in an unlikely Broadway musical called The Magic Show. Doug Henning, with his refreshingly modern approach to the art of illusion, permanently changed the face of magic and reintroduced an entire generation of audiences to grand illusion as a theatrical art.

John Harrison traces Doug's stunning rise to fame from his humble beginnings in the Toronto coffeehouse circuit to his fantastic success as the world s first celebrity magician in fifty years. Told with exacting detail and reverence for its subject, Spellbound: The Wonder-filled Life of Doug Henning is an engaging story about the making of a master illusionist and his unrelenting search for real magic.

From the highest rated magic television special in history, to three Broadway shows, to a decade of touring, John Harrison takes us on a backstage tour of Doug s performing life and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the mysterious world of grand illusion. All of Doug s astounding feats, like making an elephant vanish and walking through a brick wall, are featured in this engaging biography of a man who believed he would one day be able to levitate without resorting to his illusionist s bag of tricks.

As amazing as his onstage life, Doug Henning s journey through the bizarre world of transcendental meditation and his brush with politics are told with equal intrigue.

Spellbound: The Wonder-filled Life of Doug Henning is as exciting as Doug Henning's miracles themselves, filled with captivating adventures, like Doug's harrowing moments while submerged upside down in Houdini s Water Torture Cell on live television, his several heart-stopping incidents with rampaging tigers, and his attempt to build an amusement park in Niagara Falls.

From his first magic trick making a quarter disappear to his eventual retirement from the stage at the height of his career, the fantastic life and career of Doug Henning come vividly to life in this magical biography.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Yesterday, mentalist, mindreader,and corporate entertainer, Gerard Senehi amazed the hosts of the Today Show on NBC with experiments in all areas of the paranormal. He does book tests, key, spoon and fork bending, thread work and more.

He is recognized internationally not only as a brilliant performer but also as a true master of the art of mentalism. Ever creative, and wanting to always push the edge of what is possible, find out what new ground he is currently breaking. Read more "Secrets for tapping your inner psychicpsychic"

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Rich Marotta & Twila Zone bring Magic and Comedy to Broadway with a new show titled Magic & Zone. Rich Marotta is a seasoned stand up comedian and world renowned magician. Twila Zone is Rich's be-speckled pink haired assistant. Twila may look ditzy, but she has some very clever tricks up her sleeve. Somehow she always manages to upstage the hysterical Rich Marotta. Twila's crazy antics add a new, far out, dimension to the world of magic. Rich Marotta & Twila Zone have fused the timing of comedy with the subtlety and mystery of magic. This show is sophisticated enough for adults and a blast for kids.

Rich Marotta is a comedy club veteran. He has been on HBO, Showtime and Comedy Central and many other shows with his unique comedy/magic act. He has is an author, magic inventor and lecturer on the art and artistry of magic and comedy. His act will not only have you in stitches, but amazed as well.